I believe it says somewhere in the bible that Jehovah could have forced humanity to worship him, but didn't. Free will etc etc. If it doesn't say explicitly, it's implied so heavily it might as well have.
You can't compel love any more than you can make a square circle or mix a special widdershins green. It's logically impossible. You can't force someone to do something voluntarily of their own will.
However, there's a problem. Have to back up a step, and consider Euthyphro's dilemma. Piety is not good because gods like it. Gods are the embodiment of inherently pious ideas. The Law is Free Will: there is no god of obedience.
Existence should Exist, and you should be yourself, not try to be someone else. It can't work anyway.
Going up to a mortal and declaring yourself a god, then elaborating your principle and why the mortal will be punished for not worshipping it is doing everything except directly forcing them to worship. It's attempting to subvert the dynamic.
The correct thing to do is for the mortal to spontaneously develop affection for the principle. To worship unintentionally - at least at first. No pressure. No bribes. No sales tactics. Not even a sly suggestion. A fully internal impulse. Very definitely no coercion.
You can't spontaneously decide you like something you've been told you should like. It's logically impossible. In certain times and places conscious deliberation is certainly a sacred act and certainly called for. However, for worship per se, it is not.
Because of the bible, you can't worship Yeshua. Sure you can obey THE LORD, but that's fear, not love. Phobos, not Aphrodite. No love, no worship. You can't embrace the burning bush, you'll plain burn and lose the ability to embrace anything. More Thanatos or Azrael, nearly the opposite of Raphael.
Proselytizing is a sin
I'll meet you halfway. There cannot be an unjustified faith. I just tried and failed. Exactly how one justifies one's faith varies from person to person.
ReplyDeleteFear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, say the Proverbs. Not the foundation, the key or the heart. The beginning.
ReplyDeleteThe fear becomes noise floor once experience built on ever-increasing data points examined through the lens of that fear is sufficient. Faith becomes knowledge.
We worship that which we fear.
Devils worship fear.
ReplyDeleteThe correct response to fear is to stop being afraid of it, either through security, cooperation, or killing the shit out of it.